


From Mickey's POV

by spikewriter



Series: A Symphony of Ten [22]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 20:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2825702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikewriter/pseuds/spikewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He knows what he wants.  He thinks</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Mickey's POV

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Day 22 of my 2009 Advent Calendar on LiveJournal, and edited for posting here.

"Do you have a spanner I can borrow?"

The Doctor was the last man Mickey expected to see standing in the doorway to the garage, hands in the pockets of the brown suit he wore, a somewhat goofy smile on his face. "Don't you have some super special alien one in your tool box?" Mickey said, deliberately turning his attention back to the carburetor he was working on.

"I did, but I lost it along the way. Lovely sonic one; had it stolen by Emily Pan -- anyway, doesn't matter. Don't have it now, so need to borrow one. Rose said you have loads."

Mickey hadn't missed the way the Doctor cut that name short, and silently filed it away in his memory for later use. He could understand why the man was crazy about Rose, but he had no intention of just standing by and giving up without a fight. The battle was probably already lost, given the way he'd seen Rose take the Doctor's hand Christmas night as he'd asked her to choose a star, but if there was one lesson Mickey Smith had learned, it was that persistence paid off.

That Rose never liked the idea her man was keeping time with another girl didn't hurt either. She'd been furious when she discovered Jimmy Stone was stepping out on her, almost more so than when she discovered how much debt he'd run up on her credit card. Her annoyance at learning Mickey had been dating someone else was something he preferred not to remember. If the Doctor had women elsewhere, ex-girlfriends or something, then he was courting grief. "Yeah, I can get you a spanner."

He abandoned the carburetor for the moment, heading over to the large red tool trays that stood in one corner of the shop. "So, ah, Rose is helping you fixing the TARDIS?"

"Not so much helping as sitting in the jump seat and keeping me company. Still, gives us a chance to talk without Jackie hovering. She acts like she's afraid I'll go sweeping Rose off without any warning."

"Can you blame her? She runs off with you and disappears for a year -- a whole year! -- not a word. She was convinced Rose was dead and lying in a shallow grave somewhere." Drawer open, his hand curled tightly around the spanner's handle. "And she was convinced I'd done it."

"Ah, yeah, well. My fault. Sorry about that. Calibrations were off on the anomalizer; one of the reasons I need to work on the equipment." The Doctor paused. "I am going to do my best to take care of her, you know."

Mickey snorted. "Fat lot of good that did. You sent her home and she was ready to do almost anything to get back to you. Then you show up looking completely different."

He turned around to find the Doctor watching him in that way he had that seemed to look deep into places Mickey would prefer no one looked. Didn't matter that the eyes were brown now instead of blue; still made him uncomfortable. "I'm a Time Lord; we regenerate under extreme circumstances," the Doctor said, his voice calm and still.

"And what happens to Rose when you change again?" Every instinct he had warned Mickey not to face this man down, but he couldn't help himself. "You gonna try sending her home again? Make her go through all that another time? She didn't care if she died; all she knew was she needed to get back to you."

The Doctor didn't move, hands in pockets, watching. They could have left it at that; Mickey could have handed him the spanner and let the Doctor walk out of there, knowing that no matter what he said, Rose was going to get in that damn blue box when the repairs were finished and go racing off about the galaxy while Mickey waited, hoping she'd come home. And that was the truth, wasn't it? He kept hoping that she'd get this out of her system, come home to him and they could pick up where they'd left off, maybe make Jackie happy by settling down together and finally giving her grandchildren. Problem was, he'd come to the ugly revelation that all the Doctor had to do was crook a finger and she'd come running. Even if she did come home, it'd be like it was last time. She wouldn't be happy and Mickey would know he wasn't enough.

"And who was this Emily Pan?" he asked, finally deciding to let this doctor know that breaking Rose's heart wasn't going to be tolerated. "Does Rose know about her?"

For just a moment, the Doctor's brow drew together, puzzled. Then, he started to laugh. "You think...oh, Mickey the idiot, you're amazing. Have you even _seen_ a picture of Emily Pankhurst? She took my spanner because she thought I was sneaking into the WSPU for some nefarious purposes and wasn't interested in hearing my explanation. Tried to hit me with it -- I barely escaped intact. That would not have been a particularly entertaining way to regenerate, let me tell you."

The Doctor shook his head, looked at Mickey and laughed again. "And you think she and I -- oh, _Mickey_."

"Glad I could provide some entertainment." This wasn't what he'd anticipated.

"No, but it's marvelously funny. Tell you what; I promise that if I ever make Rose horribly unhappy, I'll stand still long enough for you to mince my balls into a salad." He smirked. "Maybe. Now, can I borrow that spanner you're holding as if you'd like to cosh my skull with it?"

Reluctantly, Mickey handed the spanner over and watched as the Doctor tossed off a cheery salute and headed out the door, still laughing. He could laugh all he wanted, but Mickey was going to remember this Emily Pankhurst woman. He suspected there was more than one female skeleton in the Doctor's closet, and if the moment ever came where Rose needed someone to turn to, he was going to be there for her.

God, he needed to get a life -- and he suspected it wasn't going to be with Rose. Figuring out what it was going to be was the problem.


End file.
